I am writing because I feel like I have to talk to someone about "Growing up a world away" (article, Aug. 12). After reading it, I could not stop crying because I am in the same situation, except that I am active duty.

I left two girls behind, one was 3 and the other barely 6 months. I have been gone for about four months and there isn’t a day that goes by that I do not think of them.

Like Sgt. Ashley Calhoun, my fear is that my little one will not know me and, when I go back and take her from where she is, she will resent me.

I guess I have it easier than Ashley because I am dual military and my husband and I are both here at Forward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan. That makes it harder on the girls though, because they are with my mom and my sisters. When we get back, we will have to move them from what they knew as their home for the eight months I was deployed.

In a way I consider myself lucky because I deployed late and got to spend the first six months with my baby, making my deployment only eight months.

I feel much better now that I have put this in writing.

Capt. Reyna J. AndrelForward Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan

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